John Dalli: “You Become a Pariah”

Maltese police have effectively shelved an investigation into former European Commissioner John Dalli, who resigned last October, dialing up the political heat on Giovanni Kessler, Europe’s anti-fraud chief who directed the probe into what predictably came known as Dalligate.

Mr. Kessler’s report last October into allegations that a businessman friend of Mr. Dalli sought a €60 million bribe from tobacco firm Swedish Match was the biggest political scandal to hit the European Union’s executive in years, leading rapidly to Mr. Dalli’s ouster and a criminal probe in Malta.

The alleged bribe was supposed to deliver Mr. Dalli’s backing to ease a ban on the sale of snus, a smokeless tobacco manufactured by Swedish Match AB, according to the anti-fraud office report.

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Mr. Kessler said at the time there was no conclusive proof Mr. Dalli was behind the alleged bribe but there was “unambiguous circumstantial evidence” the commissioner was aware of Maltese businessman Silvio Zammit’s activities.

Last December, Mr. Zammit was charged and remanded in custody. No charges were leveled against Swedish Match’s local lobbyist. Over the weekend, Malta’s new police chief Paul Zammit said there was no evidence to incriminate Mr. Dalli, although he said the probe was not closed.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Mr. Dalli—who has always denied the allegations–said he considered the police chief’s weekend comments to have cleared his name.

“It’s the relief of a cloud being lifted from over my head and over the head of my family. We can now start living our lives again after these months of anguish,” he said. Mr. Dalli, last interviewed by the police in May, said the worst thing in recent months was that even those who sympathized with him “don’t want to have anything to do with you. You become like a pariah.”

For Mr. Kessler, no such relief is in sight. The chief of the Office de Lutte Anti-Fraude has been under fire for months now over the Dalli case.

Doubts about whether the investigation was properly cleared with OLAF’s supervisory committee caused a firestorm when the committee’s leaked report said OLAF may have broken the law by taping conversations during the probe.

Mr. Kessler was criticized for lunching with a Swedish Match lobbyist after taking evidence from her, and a number of senior European parliamentarians have accused Mr. Kessler of making serious charges against Mr. Dalli on the back of flimsy evidence.

A range of politicians, including the head of the dominant center-right European People’s Party bloc in parliament, have called for Mr. Kessler’s head.

On Monday, the OLAF chief The Wall Street Journal that if he could start over, he “might have taken more precautions” so as not to give critics “pretexts” for attacking him–including by scaling back his personal role in leading the probe. Still, Mr. Kessler, a former anti-mafia prosecutor in Sicily, bristled at the notion of staying remote from such an important probe. He didn’t want to be a “fearful” OLAF chief who hid behind his staff when things went wrong, he said.

Mr. Kessler pointed to the charges brought against Silvio Zammit—who has denied all wrongdoing– and the evidence of undeclared meetings between Mr. Dalli and tobacco industry officials as proof that his investigation had produced results.

Mr. Kessler insisted he would not step down–even if OLAF is found to have breached the law. Quitting, he argued, would leave future OLAF chiefs exposed to political pressure every time a report did not produce a prosecution.

“I will not (resign),” he said. “If I resign, I would be accomplice to the destruction of the independence of OLAF.”

A European Commission spokeswoman said Monday the EU’s executive was not withdrawing support from Mr. Kessler. The Commission said it stands by its argument that the issues raised by OLAF made it “politically untenable” for Mr. Dalli to remain in his post.

As for Mr. Dalli, 64, he has launched a legal case with the European Court of Justice over what he said was his dismissal by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. He said Mr. Barroso should have insisted the OLAF report was properly vetted before rushing to oust him.

Mr. Dalli said he initiated a second legal case in a Belgian court last December for defamation against Swedish Match for spreading what he said is “the lie on which the whole investigation started.” A spokeswoman for Swedish Match, Rupini Bergström said the firm has “not been formally notified that we are the subject of any such lawsuit.”

Mr. Dalli said he’s considering further legal action against “individuals” involved in last October’s events but won’t say if that includes Mr. Kessler. He slammed the OLAF report as “totally superficial” and “very biased.”

The former commissioner said he will continue to lobby for tougher anti-tobacco rules and is looking to rebuild his career. Could that include a return to politics for one of Malta’s best known names? He definitely seems interested.

Comments (3 of 3)

This isn't the first or third time that Dalli has been embroiled in some sort of corruption. That was how he got to Brussels in the first place: the Prime Minister at the time very foolishly decided to kick John Dalli upstairs to Brussels after yet another corruption allegation. And every time, he gets away with it: facts are muddled, witnesses change their statements and reports are 'lost'. His own brother (Bastjan Dalli) is a convicted drug dealer; In a first world country Dalli would have had to resign due to that association alone.

That Brussels would leave the final verdict in the hands of the Maltese authorities is simply ludicrous. The Maltese authorities don't care about truth or justice: party politics is the alpha and the omega in Malta. It was a no brainer that the current government would exonerate him.

11:57 am June 14, 2013

Johnny Crod wrote:

What needs to be understood is that bribery and corruption is the way of life in Malta. Dalli's political canvasser is on trial, charged with asking for a 60 million euro bribe. Dalli has not tried to distance himself from this alleged bribery attempt. The feeling in Malta is that he resigned too quickly. Surely a man who had no knowledge of any bribery attempt would stand his ground. The OLAF report was leaked online in Malta and the telephone and SMS contact Dalli had with the man on trial does appear quite damning.

About Real Time Brussels

The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels blog is produced by the Brussels bureau of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The bureau has been headed since 2009 by Stephen Fidler, who was previously a correspondent and editor for the Financial Times and Reuters. Also posting regularly: Matthew Dalton, Viktoria Dendrinou, Tom Fairless, Naftali Bendavid, Laurence Norman, Gabriele Steinhauser and Valentina Pop.